Six NRI girl hostellers at the local MGN Public School were admitted to the local civil hospital on Sunday afternoon for suspected food poisoning.
The girls, staying at the NRI girls hostel, complained of severe stomach ache before being admitted.
"We consumed a cheese-based
vegetable in the mess on Saturday, which seemed to have caused the trouble. Today morning, almost all inmates woke up with a severe stomach-ache and reported the matter to the hostel staff. Bhola Singh,one of the ward boys on duty, brought us to hospital," said Heathal, a class 6 student.

Her two sisters Kritika, a class 2 student and Harpreet, a class 1 student, were also admitted to the hospital.

The three other girls admitted were Anu Chadha, a class 9 student, Komalpreet, a class 11 student and and Kamalpreet, a class 10 student. The NRI hostel houses 30 students currently.

Meena Thind, a UK-based NRI and a resident of Turna village near Lohian Khas, and the mother of three sisters, said: "My daughters have been staying at the hostel for over a year. They had complained of the poor quality of food available, but we never took them seriously. However, we never expected food quality to deteriorate so much."

She added: "My daughters informed me of the incident. No one from the school called me. Even the principal did not bother to attend my repeated phone calls."

Senior medical officer Dr Babir Singh Multani said the students did suffer from food poisoning, but their health was improving.

Principal Kamlesh Kaur Multani, could not be contacted as she did not attend the phone call after repeated attempts and had not visted the hospital till 7 pm. Secretary of the educational trust, running the school, JS Pasricha, clarified that the Principal was on examination duty and thus unavailable for comments.